


Tell me I'm a screwed up mess

by nancy01



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bottom Harry, Bullied Harry, Cute Harry, Established Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Established Relationship, Football | Soccer Captain Louis Tomlinson, Innocent Harry, Louis Tomlinson Calls Harry Styles Pet Names, Louis Tomlinson Loves Harry Styles, M/M, Niall Horan & Harry Styles Friendship, Popular Louis, Protective Louis, Quiet Harry, Quiet Harry Styles, Sad Harry, Shy Harry, Top Louis Tomlinson, harry is 16, louis is 18
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-09 13:22:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19476766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nancy01/pseuds/nancy01
Summary: Harry thinks about Louis now, his best friend and boyfriend. He pictures his piercing blue eyes that always calm Harry down, he thinks about the way his eyes crinkle up at the corners when he's smiling, he imagines Louis strong arms are holding him now, keeping him safe and grounded. A soft smile appears on Harry's face for a split second as he thinks about how lucky he got with Louis, and no, he doesn't want to die. His love for Louis is too strong to do that.Cole kicks Harry right in his stomach, wiping the smile off of Harry's face and turning it into a grimace. He kicks five more times whilst Harry lies there on the floor, curled up in a ball just taking what's given to him. He then reaches down and grabs Harry's shirt one more time, pulling him back to his feet before whispering in his ear, "Don't you dare tell anyone about this Styles, or their will be hell to pay." and then he walks away as though nothing just happened.OrHigh-school Au where Harry is a sophomore and Louis is a senior. Harry is shy, quiet, nerdy and gets bullied a lot. Louis is very popular, captain of the schools soccer team and doesn't know Harry gets bullied.





	Tell me I'm a screwed up mess

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!
> 
> So some background information to help you read this:  
> Harry and Louis are already in a relationship, they go to school, Harry is a sophomore and Louis is a Senior. Harry gets bullied but Louis doesn't know about it. 
> 
> Also the word 'fag' is used here, please don't read if this will offend you. It's used as an insult.
> 
> Enjoy!!

"You piece of shit, you listen to me when I'm talking to you! Do you understand gay boy?" a menacing voice growls into Harry's ear. He'd recognize that voice anywhere, after all, he's dealt with this every day for the past 2 years. 

The voice in question belongs to a boy in the year above Harry called Cole, who's bullied Harry since he entered high-school. For why, Harry still doesn't know, but he supposes Cole has his own issues and problems to deal with, which is why Harry's never told anybody about this. That and the pure fear he's filled with if he thinks about the consequences of him ratting out Cole and his 'friends'.

"Hey! I'm talking to you fag!" he shouts again, grabbing the back of Harry's shirt and spinning him round so their facing each other. Harry's eyes drop to the floor, too scared to initiate any kind of contact with Cole. 

"Yes, I u-understand" Harry stutters, hoping and praying they'll leave him be for now. He know's it's impossible though.

"Oi, can you not fucking talk now either? Your such a waste of space, no-one wants you here anymore." Cole grabs Harry's shirt and pulls him up to his face roughly. "Just do everyone a fucking favor and die." he spits out in a growl before releasing his grip and letting Harry slam into the floor. Harry shuts his eyes whilst he waits for the next blow to come, Cole always hurts Harry before first lesson. He knows it's the only time he'll get where there's no chance of Louis bumping into them because he's always out training in the morning with the new players on the soccer team. Captains duties and all. 

Harry thinks about Louis now, his best friend and boyfriend. He pictures his piercing blue eyes that always calm Harry down, he thinks about the way his eyes crinkle up at the corners when he's smiling, he imagines Louis strong arms are holding him now, keeping him safe and grounded. A soft smile appears on Harry's face for a split second as he thinks about how lucky he got with Louis, and no, he doesn't want to die. His love for Louis is too strong to do that.

Cole kicks Harry right in his stomach, wiping the smile off of Harry's face and turning it into a grimace. He kicks five more times whilst Harry lies there on the floor, curled up in a ball just taking what's given to him. He then reaches down and grabs Harry's shirt one more time, pulling him back to his feet before whispering in his ear, "Don't you dare tell anyone about this Styles, or their will be hell to pay." and then he walks away as though nothing just happened. Harry just grabs his backpack from the floor, turns away and carries on his journey to his first class.

-

"Harreh! How're you doing mate" Zayn calls out to Harry as he enters the English room. Zayn is Harry's best friend, his only friend before Louis came along, and the only one out of their friendship group that knows about Cole.

"I'm okay" Harry whispers, self conscious of the fact that anyone could be hearing him talk right now. He pulls out a chair next to Zayn and sits down, grimacing as he does so from the pain shooting up his abdomen. 

Zayn sighs. "Harry we need to tell someone about this, it's getting too bad." Harry looks down at his fingers and lightly shakes his head, his curls bouncing forwards slightly.

"No, you promised you wouldn't Z" he whispers. And Harry's right, Zayn did promise not to tell anyone about the bullying, but when it started it was just a few comments here and there. The daily beatings are fairly recent and everyday Zayn swears they're getting worse.

"Haz, at least tell Louis. He'll know what to do but this can't keep going on babes." Zayn tries, knowing it'll get him no-where.

"Zayn, please drop it. I'm not telling him, I'm fine." Harry says, digging in his bag for his English book.

"Fine, but promise me you'll tell me if anything gets worse."

"Promise."

And just like that the subject is dropped, and the class starts.

-

Lunch time soon rolls round, and Harry can't wait to meet Louis again. As soon as the teacher ends the lesson he quickly packs his bag and stands up ready to leave. He waits by the door for Zayn who was in the classroom next to his in an art lesson whilst he had a music lesson.

Zayn greets Harry with a smile as they make their way to the lunch hall, Zayn keeping the conversation flowing as he described the piece he was working on in art whilst Harry just listened intently and smiled when needed. 

For a while, Harry's confidence had grown and he'd been able to talk more than before but recently he feels as though he's always relying on someone else to start and hold conversations. It just makes Harry hate himself that much more.

After what feels like forever they finally arrive at the canteen where Louis is sat with his two friends Niall and Liam, who are also in their senior year. From the looks of things it Niall is encountering one of his many stories to the other two boys whilst they listen to him intently. 

"Alright lads?" Zayn says by a way of greeting. They all look up at the pair and welcome them over. Since Louis and Harry became friends they've formed a tight friendship's group despite their age differences and value each other like they would brothers.

"Hi love, how were your classes?" Louis says softly, grabbing the sleeve of Harry's sweater and bringing him round to sit down next to him. However, he pulls him a down a little to quickly and Harry whimpers loudly as the same pain shoots up his abdomen again from the beating this morning. Zayn looks up from across the table in concern but drops it deciding Louis needs to be able to ask Harry about it himself.

"Baby what's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Louis asks with concern, his eyebrows furrowed together.

And yeah, Harry's panicking because Louis just can't find out about this, so he panics and quickly thinks of a believable excuse whilst trying to make it seem believable.

"Oh um, nothing important. I-uh think I just over did it in gym class the other day on the sit ups" he says with a convincing (not) laugh as he plays with a loose thread on the sleeve of his jumper. Louis eyes him cautiously but drops it, knowing he should trust his boyfriend.

"Yeah? Don't push yourself so hard next time them babes, don't want to be hurting all the time." He says with a laugh, placing a hand on Harry's thigh. Harry visibly relaxes at the fact Louis has dropped the subject. Zayn just gives him a disappointed look and turns away, making Harry feel a little bit guilty.

"How was your music lesson sweetheart? Did you show your teacher your coursework?" Louis asks, knowing how important this coursework was for him and how much he'd been stressing over it. Music was the only way Harry truly had to communicate his thoughts and feelings.

Harry begins an enthusiastic conversation about how his teacher had really liked Harry's work and told him he was looking to pass the end of the year with a really good mark if his theory work was good. Louis sat entranced by the boy in front of him, loving the way his eyes lit up as he talked about his true passion.

"Yeah? You'll have to show me some time Hazza!" Louis teases, sending Harry into a blushing mess. He know's Harry feels too embarrassed to show him his work no matter how many times Louis tells him he's amazing.

"Nooo!" he protests cutely. "How was soccer practice anyways?" Harry asks, wanting to conversation to move away from him now. 

"Ugh dreadful! The new boys have literally got no idea with what their doing on the pitch, I'm pretty sure you'd be better than them at this stage." Louis laughs again as Harry tries to look offended but ends up laughing too. It's not exactly a secret that Harry is like a spider on roller skates when it comes to sports. "Just kidding babe." Louis adds, pressing a soft kiss to Harry's curls. 

Louis soon looks away as someone passes by their table whom he recognizes as one of the boys from the mornings practice session. Louis stops them and stands up to greet them with quick handshake and pat on the back as he invites them over to the table with the rest of the boys.

"Mate, this is Niall, Liam and Zayn, my best mates, and Harry my boyfriend." he says as he rests a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry hasn't turned round too see who this mystery man is so he just waits for him to be introduced. Zayn however, who was already facing that direction, is panicking massively right now as he realizes who this person is. "Lads this is one of the newbies that I'm training up at the moment, Cole." Louis says cheerfully.

Harry's blood runs cold as he prays to whatever gods there are out there that this isn't the Cole he knows from Junior year.

"He's a Junior" Louis adds as he offers Cole the seat on the other side of him. 

Harry now prays and prays that there are two Cole's in Junior year, but as he looks up and their eyes lock he really starts panicking. He immediately moves closer to Louis and grips onto his soccer Jersey with his eyes glued to the floor, fear running through his veins as he worries about what is going to happen. Louis notices the sudden change in Harry's behavior and turns to look down at him, throwing one arm over his shoulders.

"You alright there Haz? What's wrong?" Louis asks carefully, not wanting to upset the boy. Harry just shakes his head and mutters nothing as he tucks himself perfectly into Louis' side, not contributing anything else to the conversation. Louis just shrugs and turns to talk with Cole about the practice earlier, rubbing his thumb comfortingly up and down Harry's arm.

Normally, lunch is Harry's favourite part of the day, because he can sit with Louis and his best friends with no worries about judgement or Cole unexpectedly turning up. But that plan is screwed now. He doesn't say anything else all of lunch, just picking the sides of his sandwich off without actually eating anything, just listening to Louis' conversation with his new buddy wishing it was with himself instead.

Before long, the five minute bell was going off and Harry started to pack his lunch away. Jostled by the sudden movement Louis turns to look at Harry. 

"Babes you haven't eaten anything, you feeling okay?" Louis says with a confused expression. No matter what happened Harry always ate his cheese sandwich, one banana and a bottle of squash everyday without fail.

"I'm just not hungry today Lou" Harry whispers truthfully, although the reason he wasn't hungry wasn't for no reason it was because his tummy hurt from the fear he felt.

"Hey, Hazza look at me" Louis says softly, pushing Harry's chin up so they could meet eye to eye. "Love you know you can always talk to me, yeah? Even if I'm super busy I'll still make time for you, okay?"

"Okay." Harry whispers back as Louis pulls him in for a quick peck on the lips. 

"Right well then, I'd better be off for my chemistry lesson, Li you coming?" Louis announces to the table. Liam nods as he grabs his bag and follows Louis out of the hall. Harry hears Liam ask Louis is he'd done the homework due that day, to which Louis replies with an "Oh shit, knew there was something I'd forgotten." Harry smiles softly in adoration for his boyfriend. 

"What're you smiling at, fag?" Cole growls into Harry's ear. Harry looks up scared, to see that thee rest of the canteen had already filed out and he was now left by himself with Cole.

"N-Nothing. Um, I'm just gonna g-go now." Harry says, trying to quickly leave so as not to be late to his next class.

"I don't think so Styles. Listen here, Louis deserves so much better than you. Your pathetic, you can't stand up for yourself, you follow him around like a lost dog all the time, your completely dependent on him, your childish, your ugly, your nerdy and you honestly think you stand a chance with Louis? Louis who's more mature, older, hotter, captain of the soccer team, funny, popular and is only dating you for convenience. Trust me Styles the second someone better walks in and admits they like Louis, he'll drop you in a heartbeat. Why don't you just save yourself from looking a fool and leave him now, hm?" 

"Y-Your wrong a-about me and L-Louis, you d-don't know anything a-about us. He-He loves m-me." Harry stammers, blinking back tears. "He loves me" he whispers again, almost as though he'd trying to prove to himself that he's right. 

"Whatever helps you sleep at night gay boy. But you agree Louis is better than you, don't you?" Cole questions condescendingly.

"Y-Yeah." Harry whispers again.

"So what's honestly making you think that he'll stick with someone like you when he can do so much better?"

"I d-don't kn-know."

"Exactly. Have a nice fucking day fag." Cole slaps Harry harshly on the arm and then leaves, Harry left alone in the canteen all by himself now. Tears spill down his face as what Cole just said sinks in. He's right, Louis can do so much better than Harry, and Harry should just leave before it's too late. But at the same time Louis loves Harry too much to do that. He sits down on one of the chairs, his head hurting too much from everything that's just happened. He decides to skip this class and just go to the next one, the lesson already having run for 20 minutes. 

And then Harry's mind wanders to what Louis just told him. _"you can always talk to me."_ So Harry decided he'll just ask Louis about how he feels after school on the drive back home.

-

The afternoon goes by quickly and soon Harry is stood waiting by Louis' locker so they can finally go home after such a long day. Harry pulls out his phone to check if there are any missed messages when two strong arms lift him up and spin him round. Harry squeals out of suprise and laughs with relief when he sees Louis stood there, a glint in his eyes.

"Don't _do_ that! You scared me!" Harry says with mock anger, his hands placed jokingly on his hips.

"Aww baby no reason to be scared of me." Louis says with a laugh as opens his locker and throws some books in there. "Right let's go then lads." Louis says, hooking an arm around Harry's waist and guiding him out of the door. Harry would almost be excited but Louis definitely said Lads and Harry was just a singular lad, so he doesn't know who else is driving with them.

"Lads?" Harry question quietly to Louis, pausing in his walking. Louis stops and turns to face Harry. "Oh yeah, Cole's riding with us today, I said I'd do some private practice with him at home, we'll drop you off first though. That's cool right?" 

No, that's most certainly not cool. For one Harry can't think of a worse way to spend time then in an enclosed area with Cole, and secondly Harry was supposed to go to Louis' after school today to spend some time together.

"Uhm, I thought I was coming round?" He whispers, not wanting to sound too clingy or like he was whining.

"Sorry baby but I really gotta help Cole with this, I promised him. We'll hang out tomorrow, okay?" Louis says as though it's no big deal. Problem is it wouldn't be a big deal had this happened with anyone else, it's the problem that's it Cole that irks Harry the most. 

"Um sure. But I can just ride with Liam and Zayn. Don't want to cut your practice time short." Harry offers helpfully, mostly to avoid spending more time with Cole.

"Baby I don't mind dropping you off, but you can ride with the others if you really want to. It's up to you." Harry nods his head signalling he would like to go with Liam and Zayn. "Okay sweetheart, I'll see you tomorrow then. Text me when you get home, do you need a ride to school tomorrow we don't have practice in the morning." 

Harry nods his head that yes he would like a ride, and then Louis pulls him in for a hug and kisses the top of Harry's curls, muttering a "love you" before letting him go. 

Harry quickly walks over to Liam's car and asks if he can catch a lift to which he agrees, considering Harry's house is on the way to his.

"You alright Haz? Thought Louis was dropping you off." Zayn asks as he comes in to view.

"Um yeah we was but then Cole came with us because they're training at Louis' house today and I didn't want to be a burden to him so I said I could ride with you guys. Sorry Li" Harry explains.

"Hazza don't worry, it's fine." Liam says as he ruffles Harry's curls. "What's the deal with you and Cole anyways, I could sense some tension at lunch."

Harry looks helplessly up to Zayn with pleading eyes, hoping he'll cover for him. 

"Uh, we just don't know him is all" Zayn brushes off quickly. "Now let's get going, Haz you sitting up front or in the back?"

Harry takes the back so Zayn can have the better seat and they soon drive off. As they drive Harry stares out the window and realizes he never got to have that chat with Louis. He just sighs and fiddles with his fingers, promising himself he'll tell Louis tomorrow.

-

The next day Louis pulls up outside Harry's house and sends him a quick text letting him know he's waiting. Harry comes rushing out and let's himself into the car, excited to see Louis.

"Hiya love, y'alright?" Louis asks sleepily as he pulls out of the driven and turns to go to school. Mornings have never been Louis' thing.

"I'm okay, it's nice to finally have some time together though. I missed you." Harry says shyly. Louis looks over quickly with a smile and places a hand on Harry's thigh, gripping tightly. 

"Missed you too sweetheart" he replies. 

"How was, um, practice yesterday?" 

"Really good, Cole's definitely better than he was yesterday morning, I think the nerves got the better of him. Although he did disappear for about 10 minutes and when he came back he was better. We'll have to find out what his secret is!" Louis says with a laugh. Harry tries his best to force one out too but inside he's shaking. He's pretty sure he is Harry's 'secret' and he's scared that Louis is joking about something he doesn't know half the story about.

"Y-yeah, um, sh-shouldn't he be staying f-for the whole practice th-though. He c-could miss something imp-important otherwise." Harry mutters. Louis looks over in confusion, his eyebrows pulled in together.

"Haz I was only joking, I do know how to train my team though, they didn't give me the captain title for nothing." Louis says, slightly upset.

"I know, I know. I didn't mean it like that. I just- sorry, forget about it." 

For the rest of the drive Harry tries his best to gain the courage to talk to Louis about what Cole said, but before he knows it they've pulled up in the schools driveway.

"Okay wagons role. You coming out babes?" Louis says, unbuckling his seatbelt. 

"Wait!" Harry shouts. "I-I need to talk to you."

Louis eyes him suspiciously, a little apprehensive of how this conversation could pan out. "Okay..."

"U-Um, promise you won't be mad at me?" Harry starts, already regretting this whole ordeal.

"Harry I can't promise something if I don't know what it is you've done, just tell me please." Louis says firmly. He's scared about what Harry has to say, from the sounds of his tone, it's like he's about to say he's cheated on him and Louis definitely would be mad if that was the case.

"O-Okay, um, whyareyougoingoutwithmewhenyoucandosomuchbetter?" Harry rushes out quickly, his face bright red and his eyes glued to floor.

"Hazza I can't understand what you're saying darling. Can you speak a little slower for me?" Louis says softly, quickly realising this isn't going to be a breakup. He doesn't fully know what happened but he can tell by Harry's mannerisms.

"Um w-why are you going out with m-me when you can do s-so much better?" He whispers, his voice cracking on the last word.

"Baby, oh my god, come here." Louis says, pulling his chair all the way back and pulling Harry over and onto his lap. Harry quickly obeys and rests his head on Louis' shoulder, gripping his jumper tightly. 

"Harry I love you so so so much, yeah? Your everything I've ever wanted and needed and more. If anything, you can do better than me babes, not the other way round." Louis says honestly, pushing Harry's hair back and tucking it behind his ear.

"B-but your older, more mature, funny, popular, head of the soccer team, hot and you could easily get anyone to go out with you. I-I'm childish and immature, I'm ugly, nerdy and-and no-one likes me." Harry whispers, as though he didn't want anyone knowing how he truly thought. 

Louis' heart brakes at the thought of Harry truly believing any of these things. 

"Harry listen. You are the most amazing person I've ever met, your so cute, beautiful, smart, always trying to make other people happy and I will never find someone who I love more than you ever. I think its crazy how there are so many people in the world and yet we managed to go to the same school, how lucky that makes us. Because I truly believe that no matter where we were, we were always meant to be, always. I love you so much, everytime I think about you a smile appears on my face and I feel warm inside. Harry your amazing, I would never lie to you. I love you." 

By the end of Louis' little speech Harry has one single tear running down hiss face. After everything Cole has been telling him it's so nice to actually have nice things being said about him.

"Baby where did this all come from?" Louis asked, knowing something must've happened for Harry to ask Louis that.

"Oh, umm, j-just s-something someone said." Harry feels Louis tense beneath him and quickly tried to save it. "B-But don't w-worry! It's fine they d-didn't mean it like that, it just made me wonder. Sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for love. Who said this to you?"

"I, uhm, really can't remember their name. Please just forget about it." Harry says, hoping Louis will take a hint. He seems to, and pulls Harry in tighter for another hug, before turning Harry round so he's now straddling him. Harry blushes as he realises where this is going. Louis places a gently hand behind Harry's neck and pulls him in for a kiss. Harry shuts his eyes as he comes closer to Louis and then feels soft lips against his own. 

Louis runs his tongue along Harry's bottom lip asking for entrance, which Harry gladly gives too. The kiss is sweet and slow, full of meaning. Louis is trying to convey to Harry how perfect he is and how much he loves him. Soon Harry pulls away breathless as he rests against Louis chest again. 

Louis just smiles down at him boy before opening the car door and tapping Harry on the arm to tell him to hop out.

"Noo!" Harry cutely protests, shutting the door again. "It's cold outside, wanna stay here with you." Louis laughs softly.

"And be late for school, Hazza. You're always on at me for missing classes!" Harry looks up at Louis and glares at him slightly, going back to his original position on Louis chest.

"Your not funny, Lewis." He argues.

"Unfortunately Harold that is where you are wrong." He says, bopping Harry on the nose. "Now c'mon, I'm not letting you be late for your lesson, I'm a bad influence okay? Let's go." This time when Louis opens the door Harry doesn't argue to just jumps out, followed by Louis who is holding both of their bags. 

"Can you, uhm, walk with me to my next class?" Harry asks nervously. He really doesn't want an encounter with Cole today. "Please?" He adds.

"Sure baby, where we heading?" 

"Uh, to the humanities block. I have history first." 

The two boys head their way over there, chatting all the way about anything and everything. It plays on Harry's mind that Cole was right, Harry is dependent on Louis. But Cole was also wrong in many ways, so Harry brushes it off and tried not to think about it, amazed by how no-one will bother him now purely because he's with Louis.

"Here we are Haz." Louis says, stopping to give Harry his bag back. He pulls Harry in for one last hug and then he leaves, heading for his own class.

-

By the time lunch rolls around, Harry's so hungry he swears he could eat all the food the canteen have to offer. He walks down by himself, walking quickly and checking each corridor before he turns down it that Cole isn't there to bother him. 

He manages to make it there safe and unhurt which is a big relief for him. He spots Zayn sitting at a table by himself and guesses they're the first people here. He walks over and takes a seat, engaging himself with a conversation.

After a while, Louis turns up with Liam and Niall and, much to Harry's dismay, Cole as well. Zayn puts a hand on Harry's knee to try and calm him down, to which Harry just turns into Zayn's side and tried to hide himself from Cole. 

Louis eyes Harry suspiciously as he sees Zayn's hand on Harry's knee, trying to convince himself it's just a platonic gesture. 

"Hi lads, you don't mind if Cole sits with us right?" Louis asks happily, throwing his bag on the floor and taking a seat next to Harry. 

Just as Zayn's about to speak up and say theirs not enough space, Harry quickly interrupts. 

"Uhm, I was just leaving anyways so you can, uh, have my seat." He stumbles and quickly throws his lunch into his bag, trying to quickly get away. 

"Hazza, wait. We can just get another chair, you don't need to leave." Louis protests.

"It's fine, I, uhm, needed to see my English teacher anyways." Harry says, trying his hardest to sound believable. 

"Babe you haven't eaten anything, again. Please just sit down and eat something first."

"Uhm, I'm not really hungry" Lies, Harry was actually starving right now. "See you later. I'm still coming to yours after school right?" 

"Shit! Haz I'm so sorry but I told coach I'd stay after school for some practice. You can wait for me if you want though, it'll probably take an hour."

 _Great_ , harry thought, _an hour of waiting round in the cold stands._ When Louis had first got the position of team captain last year, he'd been ecstatic for him. But now he's always at soccer practice or training people, a selfish part of Harry wishes it could go back to how it was before.

"Okay, I'll wait for you then. Bye" he says, and finally manages to get out of the canteen. He decides to go to the toilets, knowing it will give him the most privacy. 

He enters one of the cubicles and sits down on the toilet seat (with the lid down) and let's the tears finally fall as he takes out his lunch. Being in this position reminds Harry of a time before he met Zayn. He never had any friends in middle school, he just had himself. And he was so miserable, spending all his time in bathroom cubicles, hating his life so much. 

Harry doesn't understand how this happened, how he's reverted back to the grim toilets. Cole managed to ruin everything again, he can't even have lunch anymore. 

"Styles! Get the fuck out here now!" Cole shouts. Harry flinches and holds his breath pulling his feet up to the toilet to Cole won't be able to see him. 

Cole doesn't miss a beat though and slams his fist into the door of Harry's door.

"I SAID OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" Harry opens the door out of pure fear. Cole grabs Harry by his hair and throws him into the wall. Harry's head slams into the wall and his vision swims for a bit. He looks over to the door so see it's locked, leaving him trapped here. Harry doesn't think he's ever been so scared in his life.

Cole lunges towards Harry and punches him straight across the face, causing Harry's head to hit the wall behind him again. Harry's legs give out as he slumps to the floor, his vision really swimming now. Cole kicks Harry in the ribs again and again and again and then picks him up off the floor to punch him in the stomach several times too. 

Harry throws up all down himself, unable to control it. Cole just keeps shouting insults at him as he pulls out a pair of scissors. Harry couldn't even process what was about to happen, he was starting to loose consciousness. 

Cole just pulled Harry back up and grabbed a fist of his hair. He then starts cutting of bunches of Harry's soft curls that previously fell to just below his ears. He then cutts of the bunch he was holding on too, kicks him one last time and leaves. 

Harry curls up in a ball and finally allows himself to fall asleep, unable to do anything else.

-

"Louis! Louis! Hold up man, have you seen Harry anywhere?!" Zayn shouts, jogging to catch up with Louis. Zayn had been slightly concerned when Harry had left at lunch, but when he didn't turn up for any of his classes this afternoon a bad feeling arose inside him.

"Huh? Why would I have seen him, I thought you had classes with him today?" Louis questions confusedly. He was already running late for practice and he really couldn't afford to be late.

"He didn't turn up for any of them though. It's not like Harry to skip. I think something bad's happened..." He trails off, not wanting to reveal Harry's secret. He knew Louis wouldn't be so worried because he didn't understand what Harry dealt with everyday.

"Z, bro, I really think your overreacting. He pro just went home, he did say he wasn't feeling hungry, maybe he had a stomach bug? Look I've got to go but I'll swing by his place after practice to check on him, okay? He was supposed to come round anyways." Louis offers before running of towards the field outside.

Zayn turns around in panic and runs to Liam's car.

"Li, you need to help me find Harry. Somethings happened I can feel it." Zayn says in panic

"Woah, Z, calm down. I'm sure he's fine okay?"

"No it's not okay! Why won't anyone believe me?! I know Harry better than anyone, no matter how much Louis thinks it's him, it's me! And I know something has happened! And-and-and-"

And Zayn bursts into tears as Liam pulls him in for a hug.

"Zayn, calm down yeah? Harry's capable of looking after himself. Besides nothing bad could've happened to him, he's in school. Who could've hurt him, huh?" Liam says confidently, further angering Zayn.

"Fuck you Liam, why won't you believe me? You don't know Harry like I do. I'm not coming home with you, I'm going to look for Harry with or without you because the longer we leave it the worse it will be."

Zayn and Liam spend a whole hour searching the building high and low, looking in every room but Harry is no-where to be seen. Eventually they leave, Liam trying his best to reassure Zayn and Zayn still worrying and panicking about his best friend.

-

Harry blinks slowly as he finally wakes up. Confused and disorientated he picks up his phone to find 20 missed calls from Zayn, 10 from Louis and plenty of messages from everyone asking where he is. He checks the time to see that it's 6:17pm. Shit. 

He pulls himself off of the floor slowly, wincing as he does so. He checks his appearance in the mirror and is shocked by what he see's. 

His left eye has completely swollen up and is black all over, he lifts up his top (which is covered in dried up sick) to see his stomach covered in ugly bruises. The worst part for Harry is his hair. His long curls that he used to be able to tuck behind his ears are now sticking out randomly in different lengths. The majority of it is about 1cm long and Harry hates it. 

He sighs and starts heading out of the school. All the corridors are completely black as the school has shut for the day but weirdly it doesn't scare Harry, it comforts him. Now no-one can see Harry and Harry can't see anyone else. 

Every step he takes feels like he's being hit by a ton of bricks, quiet literally. He considers ringing Liam and asking him to pick him up but he knows that then there's going to be questions and he doesn't know how to explain what's happened. So he just keeps walking, one step at a time, to get home. 20 minutes into the journey Harry has to stop and sit down for a few minutes to allow his body to rest. Normally it would only take him about 30 minutes to walk home but he's just under halfway right now. He sends a quick text to Zayn telling him he was fine and had gone home early, hoping he'd believe it. And then he gets up and starts walking home again. 

Eventually Harry makes it home after (45 minutes) and walks in to find the house empty and note pinned to the fridge.

_Hi Harry,_

_I'm working late tonight up in the city, probably won't be back until tomorrow evening, I've left some money on the side so you can order some food. Call me if there's any issues._

_Love you lots_

_Mum xx_

Harry's mum and dad had split up a few years ago and ever since then she'd been working more and more to get some more money. Gemma had also moved out to go to University last year, so Harry knew he'd have the house to himself tonight. In some ways, Harry's glad because it means he can sort himself out without anyone finding out, so he takes off his clothes to wash them so he won't smell of vomit any longer, and heads into the shower.

The shower doesn't do much to help Harry stop being in pain but it does clean him of the feeling of Cole's hands being all over him. After the shower he just heads to bed and sets an alarm for the morning, he doesn't have the energy to order food and even if he did, he's sure he'd just throw it all up again. He falls into a restless slumber, tossing and turning all night as he dreamt of Cole.

-

The next morning Harry's alarm wakes him up with a start. He grumbles as he turns it off, finally checking his phone for the messages he received yesterday. 

Louis had sent many asking where he was, if he was okay, why he hadn't waited for him like he promised, asking if he wanted a lift this morning and finally that he lived him. Harry decided it would just be easier to call him.

"Haz? Are you okay?" Louis mumbles, clearly showing him he just woke up.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine, I'm really really sorry about yesterday. I didn't feel well at lunch so I went to to the nurse and she told me I could go home so I did. Sorry" Harry lies, hoping Louis will believe it 

"Babe you could've just told me at lunch, I would've walked with you. Zayn was really worried yesterday." Louis says, making Harry feel ridiculously guilty. Harry can't even begin to imagine how worried Zayn would've been..

"I'm sorry, honestly. I just didn't want to bother anyone or cause a scene." Harry whispers.

"You wouldn't have been causing a scene by sending him a text, Harry. But don't worry about it now, it's done. Are you feeling any better today?"

"Uh yeah, are you still going to pick me up, it's fine if you can't' Harry rushes out, not wanting to irritate Louis.

"Of course I'll pick you up Haz, I'll be round in about 45 minutes, be ready yeah?" 

"Okay, I love you Lou" Harry says sincerely.

"Love you too Hazza, see you soon." Louis replies, smiling to himself.

"Bye" Harry whispers before hanging up. He slides out of bed, groaning as he does. He walks over to his wardrobe and grabs a long sleeved t-shirt to hide his bruises, some light grey joggers, hoping they'll be soft against his damaged skin and a beanie that he pulls over his hair to hide his new and unwanted hair cut. He then walks in to what used to be Gemma's room and hunts around in her cupboard until he finds a pot of liquid that is skin coloured labelled 'foundation'. He hopes this is what he's looking for.

He carefully dots the liquid over the bruised part of his face and rubs it in as best as he can, trying to hide the black eye whilst not causing him any pain. It takes a fair few layers but eventually it's gone and just looks like Harry is tired. He Harry hopes it won't look to obvious that he's wearing make up, but he just decides to try and avoid eye contact with anyone.

Just as he's pulling on his trainers he hears a light knocking on the door, so he grabs his bag with his phone and keys as he heads outside. He opens the door and sees Louis stood there, arms open as he invites him in for a hug. Harry tentatively steps forwards and lightly places his arms around Louis' waist as Louis wraps his arms tightly around Harry's shoulders and squeezes him even tighter. 

Harry does his best to hold in a whimper as Louis places a kiss to Harry's beanie, not wanting to alert Louis of his pain.

They pull back and share a quick kiss before getting in to Louis' car.

"So what exactly happened yesterday babes?" Louis asks lightly, concentrating on his driving. Harry panics a little and looks outside the window. 

"I just didn't feel well at lunch so I went to the nurse and she sent me home." Haery recites.

"Sweetheart I came round after practice to see how you were. No-one was home, you weren't answering your phone, Liam said Zayn was crying over how worried he was for you, can you please just tell me the truth?" Louis says with a sigh.

"I was home, I just, um, fell asleep cause I really didnt feel well, I slept all the way through until this morning. And I did text Zayn yesterday I wasn't ignoring everyone!" Harry says somewhat truthfully.

"So you texted Zayn and not me?" Louis says, a little hurt.

"Yeah but o-only cause I knew he would worry more!" Harry argues back, regretting what he said earlier.

"Babes what's going on between you and Zayn?" Louis asks.

"W-what do you mean?" He asks timidly.

"Yesterday at lunch, the second I came over you left but you were happy to sit there with Zayn, he had his hand on your knee, he was distraught yesterday just because he didn't know where you were, and you only texted him even though we all messaged you yesterday. I understand you guys are close Haz but this isn't normal."

Harry just looks down as he starts playing with his fingers, a nervous habit of his. He's about to speak up and tell Louis it isn't how he thinks when Louis speeds up over a particularly high speed bump, making him involuntarily groan loudly.

Louis looks over in concern, confused as to what just happened.

"Baby you okay? What's wrong?" He says nervously.

Harry groans again.

"S-stop." He whispers "Please stop"

"Haz I don't understand what you saying." Louis says loudly and clearly.

"The car, make it stop. Please..." He clarifies with a whisper, groaning again.

"You want me to stop the car?" Louis asks. Harry nods his head in confirmation as Louis quickly pulls over. As soon as the car stops Harry quickly unbuckles his seat belt and he's out if the car, only managing about two steps before he's throwing up all over the floors again. This time he manages to keep it off himself and straight on to the floor. Louis follows him quickly and silently rubs a hand in circles on Harry's back.

After a few minutes Harry finally stops retching and stands back up straight.

"I'm so sorry" he whispers.

"Darling you don't need to apologize for being ill, you can't help it. Do you want me to take you home?" Louis says comfortingly.

Harry shakes his head. "No, I'll be fine now, thank you. Um, d-do you have any water." He asks quietly.

"Yeah, wait here for me baby." Louis says as he quickly goes into the boot of his car and retrieves his water bottle from his sports bag.

"Here you go, do you need any help?"

"Um no, I'll be okay" Harry replies before rinsing his mouth out with the water and spitting it back out, and then drinking some of the water. He grimaces as the acidic taste left in his mouth. He turns round and grips onto Louis' arm.

"Lou, I really am sorry. Not just about this but about yesterday too. It's just, Zayn knows something no-one else does, and I really want to tell you but I can't, but I promise you there's nothing going on between me and Zayn. Not like that anyways. I love _you_." he clarifies, wide eyes staring up into Louis'.

"Darling don't worry about it okay? I was just being stupid about it. But you know you can always talk to me, always, no matter what the issue is. I love you Harry." Louis says sincerely.

"I know, and I really want to tell you but I just can't, not yet. Sorry" Harry says again.

"Hey, Hazza you don't need to keep apologizing love. Now lets get back into the car, and if you feel like your gonna be sick again let me know, okay?"

"Okay." And with that, they both get back into the car and carry on the journey to school.

-

When Louis pulls up into the parking lot at school, Harry's fallen asleep in his seat, his head resting on the window. Louis looks over and smiles softly in love for his beautiful boyfriend. He jumps out of the car and walks around to the other side of the car, opening Harry's door and gently shaking him awake.

"Baby wake up, we're here." he says softly. Harry just frowns in his sleep and leans into Louis' arms as he tries to stay asleep. Louis chuckles softly to himself as he shakes Harry a little harder. "Hazza, c'mon babes we're already cutting it fine."

Harry slowly opens his eyes and whines when he see's Louis stood in front of him. "Don't wanna go." he mutters.

"Okay I'll just leave you here all day by yourself Haz, see you later" Louis says playfully, pretending to walk away.

"No! Don't want you to go either." Harry grumbles, his eyes closing again. Louis laughs again.

"Harry, c'mon. We both have lessons to get too, unless you want me to skip more classes and get into more trouble with the head." Louis says, knowing this will get Harry out of the car.

"Fine, I'm coming. Your mum will murder you if she gets called in one more time." Harry says as he gets out of the car and grabs his bag. "I hate you by the way" he adds.

"Sure you do Haz, you couldn't hate anyone even if you tried." Louis laughs. 

Both boys walk towards the building keeping a good conversation flowing as Harry holds tightly onto Louis' hand.

"It's a pretty warm day today, Haz. Do you want to take your beanie off?" Louis says, already reaching up to take it.

"No!" Harry protests, grabbing the edges of his hat and pulling it firmly down. "I like it" He adds

"Okay.." he says unsurely.

"Um Louis?" Harry says hesitantly. He hums in response. "Um, y-you know C-Cole?" Another hum. "U-Um, do you th-think it would m-maybe be o-okay if h-he doesn't sit with us t-today?"

"Why? Don't you like him babes? I think he's really cool." Louis replies, confused as to why Harry would be saying that.1

"I know, and I know I can't force you not to hang out with him cause he's your friend, but just for today? Please Lou.." The truth Harry thinks he'll be sick if he see's Cole again today and he also thinks he'll start crying and he just doesn't have the energy to do either so he's hoping Louis will just allow it this one time.

"Shit look at the time. I have to go Haz, but if you really want I'll make sure he doesn't sit with us today, but we do still need to talk about this alright love?" Harry nods his head in agreement as Louis squeezes his hand one more time before they part ways.

Harry walks into his first lesson, dreading the moment he sees Zayn.

-

Zayn doesn't talk to Harry the whole way through their English class and when his art lesson comes, he just walks off and leaves Harry rather then waiting for him like he normally does. Harry understands that Zayn is hurt because he didn't text him or call him but in Harry's defense he was unconscious the whole time, but Zayn doesn't know that. When Harry's music lesson ends he rushes out and stands outside of the art room, waiting for Zayn so he can try and talk to him, but as soon as Zayn comes out he makes a bee line for the lunch hall, away from Harry.

"Zayn! Please wait I need to talk to you!" Harry desperately calls. Zayn turns around with a humorless laugh. 

"Oh so now you want to talk we can, but when I was worried sick about you yesterday you don't even have the decency to ring me Harry!" Zayn shouts back with anger laced around his words.

"I did send you a text Z, please listen to me I really need to talk."

"Oh yeah, you sent a text saying : 'I'm fine, don't worry.' Really considerate of you Haz." Zayn replies. He takes a step closer to Harry and lowers his voice. "Harry you don't understand how scared I was yesterday, this isn't just about you anymore. I didn't know where I was gonna find you or what state you'd be in when I finally did. And no-one would believe me cause your too much of a pussy to tell anyone so they all thought I was going crazy. Harry I love you but I can't be friends with you anymore if you don't tell someone else, because I have to start putting myself first, okay?" Zayn says, his eyes shimmering with tears. 

"Zayn please don't do this, I'm so sorry for putting you through that yesterday, believe me I wanted to call you-"7

"So why didn't you then! Why didn't you call me and tell me where you were?! Seriously Harry I meant what I said, I can't keep doing this."

"O-Okay, I'm not gonna stop you doing what you want to do then." Harry says, his voice shaking as he tries to hold back the tears. He's been friends with Zayn for almost five years now, he's the person who brought Harry out of his shell, his first true friend and the first person he could truly trust. He understood what people meant when they said friendship breakups were the hardest thing to do. Harry and Zayn hug one last time before he walks away and heads to a different table in the canteen. Harry just wipes away his tear and walks over to his normal table, where Louis was already sat with Liam and Niall.

"Haz why'd Zayn just walk over there?" he hears someone ask, he's guessing Liam because it wasn't Irish and it wasn't Louis, but he wasn't really paying attention. He just silently sits down next to Louis and curls up into his side, slowly eating his sandwich. Louis doesn't say anything, just pulls Harry in and kisses the top of his beanie as he carries on his conversation with Liam and Niall about god knows what. At some point Liam and Niall leave to go do something, Harry wasn't really paying attention as to what it was, and Louis turns fully to look at Harry.

"Baby what happened?"

"He hates me." Harry confessed in a whisper, to scared to admit it out loud.

"Who? Zayn?" Louis says confused. Harry nods his head in confirmation, still trying his hardest not to cry. "Hazza Zayn could never hate you. Talk to me babes, what happened?"

Harry sniffs and clears his throat before saying, "He just, he's really upset about yesterday and how I didn't text or call him and then-you know how I told you that Zayn knows something no-one else does?" Louis nods. "Well, he basically said that it wasn't fair on him to keep the secret any longer or have to deal with it on his own any longer and he had to put himself first and he couldn't be friends with me if I didn't tell someone." Harry says, his voice a whisper by the end. 

"Darling, he'll always love you and care about you, he's just a little hurt right now. And it is fair for him to want to put himself first."

"I know! I agree with everything he said, I just wish I could fix things."

"Everything will work out in the end sweetheart, don't worry too much about any of it. I have practice after school again, if you want you can watch from the stands and then we can go back to my place, how does that sound?" Louis asks sweetly.

Harry nods and tells Louis he'd like that very much, and then he finishes his lunch before he heads off for his next lesson.

-

At the end of the day, Harry makes his way to the stands by the side of the football pitch as he pulls out his coursework for music and starts adapting it with changes his teacher told him to make. He glances up at the field as he spots Louis warming up next to Cole. And, shit. Harry forgot about Cole. But then he remembers Louis is here and Cole would never start something with him there.

Louis looks up as though he senses Harry staring at him and gives him a wink to which Harry gives a small wave. He's still a little down about the whole Zayn situation but he tries his hardest to forget about it. Instead he plugs his headphones in and looks down at the score Infront of him, trying his best to stay focused and not just stare at Louis for two hours, who looks incredibly hot when playing soccer.

After a while, someone walks up to Harry and harshly yanks his headphones out, making Harry flinch and shut his folder, scared for someone to see his work. He looks up and shivers when he see's Cole looking down at him, a frown on his face.

"Still here fag? I thought I told you to die, what happened to that dip shit?" He growls menacingly. Harry doesn't respond though, just looks up at Louis hoping to catch his attention. "Hey! I'm talking to you! What did I say you do when I'm talking to you?"

"Th-that I sh-should listen t-t you." Harry whispers. Cole yanks Harry's beanie off too, making Harry gasp from the loss of warmth and the exposure to his hair. "G-give it back"

"Why? So you can hide it some more? We both know Louis loved your hair so now you don't have it he won't like you anymore. That's why your wearing it isn't it?" Cole asks rhetorically. Harry hadn't wanted to admit it even himself but that was why he was wearing it, he didn't want Louis to realise how unattractive he was without his signature hair. Cole shoves the hat back onto Harry's head roughly, making Harry grimace from the pain, his head still sore from where it hit the wall yesterday. Harry suddenly feels the urge to be sick again so he looks around alarmed as he tries to find a good place to empty his stomach.

Cole doesn't seem to notice though, either that or he just doesn't care, so he presses firmly against Harry's stomach where he knows there are bruises, crouches down to Harry's height and whispers "It would be so easy for me to hurt Louis the way I've hurt you, Harry. I can easily 'accidently' trip him up in practice, think about it. He'd be out for the season, his captain position would be given to someone else and everything he's worked for all this time would be gone." Cole applies more pressure as Harry whimpers and rubs a thumb on Harry's face where he knows the bruise is. "All you have to do, to make sure it doesn't happen, is break up with Louis. Simple. And I'll make sure he stays in one piece. You have the weekend. If I come back to school on Monday and your still together..." Cole applies even more pressure. "I'll hurt him so much worse than you, okay?"

"W-Why are you doing this?" Harry whispers, trying to focus on not throwing up on Cole.

"Because, Harry, Louis doesn't deserve you, he deserves me. Once your out of the picture he'll realise how much better I am than you. So what are you going to do this weekend?" Cole says softly, so softly it actually scares Harry more.

"B-Break up with L-Louis..." He whispers in disbelief. Cole leans in even closer and places his mouth by Harry's ear. "Good boy" he whispers and like that he leaves, as though he'd just told Harry to have a nice day, and walks back onto the pitch. Harry looks back to Louis who's shouting at some more freshman about his playing before he runs to the back of the stands and throws up everywhere. His mind is running wild over what Cole has just told him. He's going to do it, no matter how much it will hurt him and Louis he's not risking Louis being hurt, he'd never forgive himself if he felt this way. 

Harry spits on the ground to rid his mouth if the bile and then he walks back to his seat on the stands. He takes a gulp of his water and readjusts his beanie, trying his best to forget about what happens. Harry decides he'll just enjoy this evening with Louis and tell him tomorrow, and then he opens his score again and tries to get back to his work.

-

At the end of practice Louis comes up to the stands to meet Harry.

"Hi Haz, I'm just gonna take a shower and then we can get going yeah?" Louis says, squeezing Harry's shoulder. Harry whines in protest. "Can't you just shower when we get home, I don't mind." He says. In all honesty Harry doesn't want to be left alone again incase Cole comes back.

"Baby I'm really sweaty, it won't take a minute." Louis replies, packing Harry's stuff into his bag before grabbing his hand a pulling him down to he pitch.

"I don't mind, honestly. Please? I'm really tired." Harry adds as after thought, hoping it will persuade Louis to take them home now.

"Hmm, okay fine just this once. Let's go lock up these footballs in the cupboard and then we'll leave" Louis caves, walking over to the bag of footballs. 

Soon, Louis' pulling up into his drive and Harry has once again fallen asleep in the car which Louis thinks is a bit odd considering Harry never normally falls asleep in the car. He turns the ignition off and gets out of the car, opening the door for Harry and easily picking him up, not having the heart to wake him up. Harry rests his head into the crook of Louis' neck unconsciously. Louis smiles too himself and walks into his house, kicking the door shut with his foot afterwards. He then takes Harry up to his bedroom and gently placed him onto the bed before heading back downstairs and having a quick chat with his mum. 

After that he goes back upstairs and takes out his phycology homework and gets started on that whilst his boy sleeps. 

\- 

Harry wakes with a start, looking around in confusion as to where he was. As soon as he sees Louis he immediately relaxes and realises he's at Louis' home.

"Louiiiss" Harry calls, dragging out his name. Louis turns around from his desk and smiles when he sees Harry.

"Hi love, you had a good nap" he asks. And no, Harry did not have a good nap because all he could dream about was Cole and breaking up with Louis and Zayn still being mad at him. So instead of answering he just walks over to Louis and straddles him, bending down slightly for a kiss. The more Harry kisses Louis the guiltier he gets knowing he's going to have to leave Louis soon, so the kiss soon becomes heated and desperate.

"Mm, Haz baby, slow down a little bit." Louis says as he regretfully pulls away breathless. Harrys not having any of it though as he leans back down and starts desperately sucking Louis' neck, trying his hardest to forget about everything that's happened. After Harry has given Louis enough time to regain himself he goes back to his mouth and kisses him again, harder and more desperately before, gaining entrance to Louis' mouth and kissing him even deeper.

Louis is shocked at this sudden behaviour from his boyfriend though. Normally Louis is always the one to initiate any kind of kissing and normally he dominates the kiss, but right now Harry is completely overpowering the Kiss. And whilst Louis loves it, he also knows something isn't right so it takes all of his willpower to once again pull away.

"H-Harry, baby we need to stop. This i-isnt right." Louis says with regret.

"Why? D-Do you not want m-me anymore?Oh my god, Cole was right this whole time, W-Why didn't y-you just t-tell me before, I-I d-didn't r-realise you felt th-this way. Oh my god, y-you h-hate me and L-Louis I cc-can't breath, make it stop please make it stop, I don't wanna be here, I wanna die, I don't wanna be here, I wanna die." Harry continues repeating those actions as he tugs down in his beanie, sliding down to the floor and rocking back and forth with his knees pulled up to his chin. Louis takes a second to realise Harry is having a panic attack but as soon as he does he also slides off the chair and crouches Infront of Harry, both arms securely pushing down on his shoulders.

"Harry, focus on my voice baby. I need to you take a deep breath in for me and then a big breath out. Do it with me, ready in....and out, repeat." Louis speaks firmly to Harry, exaggerating his breathing so Harry can copy him. For the first few tries Harry can't seem to get control of his own breathing but eventually he manages to replicate Louis' breathing, glad for the hands on his shoulders that are keeping him grounded. 

"Well done Haz, you're doing so well keep going darling. I love you" Louis says reassuringly. Harry keeps trying to regulate his breath as he feels the panic leave his body and in place tiredness. He falls forwards into Louis' hold and they stay that way for a while. 

Not too long after Harry whispers to Louis, "we need to talk" making Louis a little anxious and worried. He pulls himself back up and sits back down in his chair, pulling Harry into his lap again, this time facing sideways. 

"Haz what just happened babes?" Louis asked cautiously.

"Uhm, I'm not sure, I think maybe I had an anxiety attack" Harry whispers unsurely.

"I know darling, you had a panic attack. I kind of meant why did it happen and why were you kissing me so desperately before." Harry groans in frustration, desperately wanting to tell Louis the truth but knowing he can't.

"I-I can't, uh, can't tell you but uhm, I-uh, uhm, thinkweshouldtakeabreak" Harry rushes out. Under normal circumstances, in any other relationship, Louis would be upset by that statement. But Louis knows Harry better than anyone else and he knows something isn't right.

"No you don't." He responds simply, leaning back in his chair.

"W-what? Yes I do." Harry protests stubbornly. _Your doing this for Louis_ he tells himself, _this is for Louis'own good_

"Harry stop lying please, tell me what's going on."

"If I tell you your gonna get hurt."Harry whispers, collapsing back into Louis' hold.

"I'm not gonna get hurt sweetheart, I promise. Please just tell me." Louis pleads, getting a little nervous as to what's about to happen.

"Uhm, D-Do you have any wipes?" Harry asks shyly " Maybe I could show you instead." 

"Sure baby, good idea" Louis diggs around in guys cupboard door some wipes, sighing in relief when he finds them. He passes one to Harry who hesitantly takes it. "Promise got won't laugh at me or make fun of me?" Harry asks.

"Of course I won't baby." Louis says reassuringly.

Harry turns around as he starts to wipe away the makeup on his face off, he then removes his short and beanie hearing Louis gasp from behind him. Slowly he turns around and meets Louis' eyes.

"Fuck, oh my god. Darling who would do this to you?" Louis asks as he steps forwards to inspect Harry's injuries. 

"C-Cole" Harry whispers. Louis tenses up as grips his hands in fists. 

"I'll kill him. I swear to god I'll kill him! He's gonna pay for doing this to you." Louis says darkly.

"No! He's gonna hurt you really bad if you do" Harry protests wanting to keep him safe.

Louis runs a hand through Harry's hair as he swears to himself again. 

"Haz when did this happen?" 

"Uhm, technically this" Harry gestures to himself "happens yesterday but Cole's been picking on me for a few years now. But yesterday he found me in bathroom and punches me across the fave, kicks me in the stomach and cut my hair. I'm really really sorry."

Louis tilts Harry's head up so they're looking into each others eyes.

"Sweetheart you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. This isn't your fault, okay?" Louis says reassuringly. Harry nods silently. 

"So what made you say you wanted a break, if you still want one I won't stop you."

"No! I was lying when I said it, promise. But Cole came to me at practice today and said I had to break up with you before the weekend was over or he'd hurt you worse than he did me" Harry says quietly, already falling asleep against Louis again.

"Fucking hell." Louis mutters. "Right, let's just go to bed baby, you can sleep here tonight. And don't worry about Cole, I'm gonna make sure he'll pay for what he did." Harry just nods against Louis' chest as he finally falls asleep again. Louis transfers the two of them back to his bed, and he as he holds Harry close to himself he thinks about all the ways he'll make Cole pay for hurting his baby.

-

When Monday roles round, Louis has a plan set in his mind. Over the weekend Harry and Zayn had met up and rekindled there friendship after Harry explained everything that had happened. Louis had dropped Harry off at Zayn's last night so he could sleep over there and go to school with him and Liam in the morning so there was no way Cole could get to him.

Right now, Louis is sat in the changing rooms in school waiting for the newbies to arrive so they can start training. Once they've all arrived and gotten changed, Louis orders them to go to the pitch and do 10 laps of the field as a warm up.

"Not you Jones, we need to have a chat." Louis orders, still sat down on his bench. Cole looks up I'm delight as he hangs back, thinking this is the part where he can finally get Louis to go out with him.

"Jones we won't be requiring you at these sensions anymore, you can leave now." Louis orders, knowing full well Cole won't leave that easily.

"Oh, what's that Lou? Am I too good for this team now?" Cole says with mock confusion, walking towards Louis with a playfull smile.

"That's Louis to you. And no, it's not because your too good. We won't be wanting you on our team anytime soon, so we don't want to waste time training you. Like I said before, you can leave now." Louis says coldly, still knowing Cole won't actually leave.

"Wh-what? Why? We did all that extra practice though? I'm better than everyone else out there and we both know it." Cole argues and unfortunately he's right.

"Jones, it's not just about the skill when playing, it's about your attitude on and off the pitch. Unfortunately yours isn't acceptable" 

Cole quickly realised what's happened. He knows Harry told Louis about what was going on and he didn't break up with him.

"Listen Louis, whatever Harry told you is a lie. He's never liked me or given me a chance and the other day he said he'd rather I'd kill myself." Cole forces a tear to fall. "I just didn't know who to turn to."

If Louis was mad before, then it doesn't compare to how he feels now. He stands up and quickly throws Cole into the lockers.

"How dare you talk about him like that, how dare you! Harry is the fucking best person I've ever known and you dare to stand there talking shit about him.!" Louis is quiet literally seeing red right now. He punches Cole on the nose hearing a satisfying crunch. "You are the one that deserves to die, not Harry! Your meaningless, ugly, talentless, a waste of space and everyone wishes you weren't here." He screams and punches Cole again, this time in his abdomen. 

He grips Cole by his collar "you ever touch Harry again, you speak to him, you look in his direction I swear to fucking god I will kill you. Now. Get. Out" and with that he releases his grip and watches Cole literally run out of the changing rooms. He goes to the punching bags and throws a few more punches to get rid off his anger before going out to the pitch and beginning practice.

-

For the rest of the week Louis makes sure Harry doesn't leave his sight apart from classes, and when he has practice he makes sure one of the boys are always with him. Cole doesn't bother again and Harry's never felt happier. He's still wearing the beanie everyday as he waits for his hair to grow back but he's definitely in the healing process. 

Harry and Zayn's friendship is stronger than ever and Harry is so so so grateful for it. 

But most importantly, Harry and Louis are back to their normal crying selves. They are also stronger than ever, and Harry is glad he no longer has to lie to Louis.

There are still good days and bad days, but Harry wouldn't change anything for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Ughhhh that took so much longer to write than expected.
> 
> PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COMMENT IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME XXXX
> 
> I'm so so so sorry it's so long, it wasn't supposed to be but I don't really know what happened. I know there's loads of mistakes and typos but it's 2:44 am and I don't have the energy, I'll try and fix them soon. Also, I'm not American but British and I know nothing about American school so I do apologize if I got anything wrong. I'm so tired right now so I'll gonna go, as always feel free to comment, of you have anything specific you'd like me to write then feel free to let me know. Thankyou so so so so so much for your support, have a good day xxx


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